The Limited Times

Now you can see non-English news...

This gravedigger takes the covid-19 more seriously than the president of Brazil

2020-07-09T20:34:58.726Z


Adenilson Costa has worked in the Vila Formosa cemetery for a quarter of a century and says he has never seen fresh graves fill up so quickly. It is the largest cemetery in Latin America ...


Bolsonaro publishes video on Facebook taking hydroxychloroquine 0:33

São Paulo, Brazil (CNN) - Adenilson Costa has worked in the Vila Formosa cemetery for a quarter of a century and says he has never seen fresh graves fill up so quickly.

It is the largest cemetery in Latin America, but since the coronavirus arrived in Brazil, it is not large enough.

Families are rushed at funerals, Costa said, each of whom has no more than 10 or 15 minutes to say goodbye so that the cemetery can administer up to 80 burials per day at this site on the outskirts of São Paulo.

LOOK: The 5 things you should know this July 8: What does it mean that Bolsonaro has covid-19?

"That makes us very shocked, very sad, because it is the last goodbye that they will give to the loved one that they lost and do not have time," Costa said.

He spoke on a momentous day for Brazil, a day when the Ministry of Health announced more than 45,000 new cases of covid-19 in the country, one of them the president, Jair Bolsonaro.

Bolsonaro has spent months minimizing the spread of the deadly virus, even as Brazil became the country with the second-highest number of cases, and deaths, behind only the United States.

And while the gravedigger Costa is shocked by the death rate, Bolsonaro told many of his citizens that they had nothing to worry about: "Younger people: be careful, but if the virus affects you, be sure that, for you, the possibility of something more serious is close to zero, "said the president. When he announced that he himself had the virus.

Bolsonaro acknowledged that the risk was higher for those, like him, over 65 years old. But he told reporters that he felt good and gave much of the credit to hydroxychloroquine, the anti-malaria drug that US President Donald Trump controversially promoted, which Bolsonaro later added, but has not been proven. as a treatment for covid-19.

LOOK: Bolsonaro publishes video on Facebook taking hydroxychloroquine

Bolsonaro told CNN Brazil that he took hydroxychloroquine and azithromycin while waiting for the result of his fourth covid-19 test in four months.

"I feel very good. I think the way they administered hydroxychloroquine, the effect was immediate, "he said.

Bolsonaro's promotion of hydroxychloroquine worries Dr. Luiz Henrique Mandetta, former Brazilian health minister.

"So he pretends that this drug would save 90% of people's lives. It is not the medicine. It's the way the disease develops, "said Mandetta.

"The problem is that people are going to believe that," he added. "Their message could be a disaster in a country that has so many people that they actually pay more attention to the messages they hear than what they read about things."

Mandetta said he and other ministers tried to warn Bolsonaro to take the pandemic seriously and develop a national plan to deal with it. But they were not attended.

"He [Bolsonaro] always said he would, he was more concerned with the damage to the economy than the damage to people's lives," said Mandetta.

Bolsonaro fired Mandetta for trying to get the nation to wear masks and stay home.

Mandetta says he hopes the president recovers, but he also hopes he will think of all the other Brazilians who tested positive for the covid test the same day as Bolsonaro.

"I just hope he can think of the other people who have a diagnosis on the same day as him," he said. "The people who received the test today are going home, not to the place where he lives with a personal doctor 24 hours a day, ... many people ... and the entire team."

coronavirus

Source: cnnespanol

All news articles on 2020-07-09

You may like

Trends 24h

News/Politics 2024-03-27T16:45:54.081Z
News/Politics 2024-03-28T06:04:53.137Z

Latest

© Communities 2019 - Privacy

The information on this site is from external sources that are not under our control.
The inclusion of any links does not necessarily imply a recommendation or endorse the views expressed within them.